7th Circ. Probes Offset Restitution In Hytera-Motorola Dispute

By Celeste Bott

Seventh Circuit judges appeared amenable Tuesday to Motorola's argument that an Illinois federal judge wrongly refused to order Hytera to pay restitution for stealing trade secrets and improperly treated Hytera's payments in parallel civil litigation as offsets in the criminal case, effectively nullifying Motorola's punitive damages award.

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United Airlines, Cyber Insurer Spar Over CrowdStrike Losses

By Hope Patti

Cyber insurer Homesite Insurance Co. and United Airlines filed dueling lawsuits in Illinois federal court this week over losses stemming from the CrowdStrike outage in 2024 that brought air travel to a standstill.

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Air Ambulance Co. Fights To Keep 'No Surprises' Suit Alive

By Lauraann Wood

An air ambulance service looking to collect unpaid transport bills from Blue Cross Blue Shield's parent company argued Tuesday that its lawsuit should proceed because court enforcement is its only hope for combating the insurer's practice of ignoring the No Surprises Act's otherwise tight payment deadlines.

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7th Circ. Backs UChicago, TIAA In Spousal Pension Fight

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Seventh Circuit backed a Wisconsin federal court's decision to hand the University of Chicago and its pension plan manager TIAA an early win in a dispute over a deceased worker's spousal pension benefits, and declined to certify a question about power of attorney authority to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

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7th Circ. Told To Keep Judge's MAGA Firing Fight In Fed. Court

By Celeste Bott

A retired judge looking to hold the Illinois Supreme Court liable for canceling his temporary reinstatement over a pro-MAGA opinion column told the Seventh Circuit Monday that his case belongs in federal court, saying he has no unbiased state court forum because his claims "would inevitably reach defendants themselves."

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18 State AGs Sue EPA Over Hydrofluorocarbons Rollback

By Craig Clough

Eighteen Democratic attorneys general and the city of New York filed a petition with the D.C. Circuit Tuesday over a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule they argue will weaken federal limits on hydrofluorocarbons, which are refrigerants used in air conditioning and cooling systems.

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Ill. Man Gets 6 Years In Snapchat Nude Hacking Scheme

By Carolyn Muyskens

An Illinois man was sentenced to more than six years in prison Tuesday for hacking into hundreds of women's Snapchat accounts, stealing nude photos and selling or trading the images online.

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Brief

Feds Seek 3 Months For Ex-Girardi Atty's Role In Theft

By Lauraann Wood

A former Girardi Keese attorney who helped disgraced plaintiff's attorney Tom Girardi steal millions of settlement dollars from plane crash clients should serve three months in prison to account for the seriousness of his conduct, federal prosecutors in Chicago say.

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Real Estate CEO Only Partly A Public Figure, Colo. Judge Says

By Benjamin Morse

Brian Watson, CEO of Northstar Commercial Partners, is a limited-purpose public figure as to an alleged statement calling him "a criminal," but not as to a separate allegation that he had "relations" with prostitutes, a Colorado federal magistrate judge ruled.

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Analysis

Wyeth's Patent Loss Has Attys Focusing On Dosage

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit's holding that a Pfizer unit's cancer treatment patents are invalid highlights the risk of including dosages in patents without sufficient proof that those dosages work, attorneys say.

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7th Circ. Affirms NYT, Getty Photogs Not Targeted By Cops

By Craig Clough

A Seventh Circuit panel Tuesday affirmed a lower court's ruling that photojournalists for The New York Times and Getty who say they were struck by foam baton rounds while documenting civil unrest at the Kenosha County courthouse in 2020 were not intentionally targeted or singled out by officers.

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How CME Suit May Reshape CFTC's Crypto Derivatives Rules

CME Group's recent lawsuit over the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's approval of a Kalshi application to offer a bitcoin perpetual contract as a futures product could have cascading consequences for crypto derivatives regulation, highlighting why policy ambitions do not override statutory text or substitute for reasoned decision-making, says attorney Tamara de Silva.

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Holland & Knight Hit With $1.2B Malpractice Suit

By Madison Arnold

A real estate firm is accusing Holland & Knight LLP and three attorneys of malpractice in a new complaint filed in Florida state court and is seeking up to $1.2 billion in damages after more than 30 states opened investigations into the company's practices.

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Co. Turned Away Simpson Thacher's Deal Meeting, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A retired Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP partner who handled the fundraising round alleged to have destroyed Patriot National Inc. testified in a Florida state malpractice trial Wednesday that the insurance services company waved off his attempt to present details to the board.

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Brief

Pillsbury Data Breach Suit Voluntarily Dismissed

By Matt Perez

A proposed class action against Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP over a data breach last year has been voluntarily dismissed by the named plaintiffs, following a granted motion to stay in April to discuss mediation.

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DLA Piper Says Deception, Not Bias, Cost Palestinian Atty Job

By Grace Elletson

DLA Piper urged an Illinois federal judge to toss a Palestinian attorney's suit claiming the firm revoked a job offer out of discrimination, arguing it rescinded the offer because she concealed allegations that she assaulted someone at a protest.

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DC Bar Leaders Say DOJ Ethics Suit Encourages Misconduct

By Emily Sawicki

Washington, D.C., attorney regulators continue to garner support in their effort to toss a Justice Department lawsuit over alleged "weaponizing" of executive branch lawyer discipline, with D.C. bar organizations, scores of legal scholars and more than 500 former DOJ attorneys backing the disciplinary authorities.

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Mich. Gets Judge With Blue Slips In 1st For Trump Admin

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate voted 62-36 on Wednesday to confirm Michael Martin, a longtime federal prosecutor, to the Eastern District of Michigan and Benjamin Flowers, former solicitor general of Ohio, to the Sixth Circuit.

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DOL IG Says Info-Sharing Pacts Lacked Safeguards

By Irene Spezzamonte

U.S. Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony P. D'Esposito testified Wednesday before a U.S. House subcommittee that during the Biden administration, the department shared confidential information with plaintiffs' attorneys without notifying the Wage and Hour Division or the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

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Gov't Attys May Face Broader Duty To Report Misconduct

By Alison Knezevich

Attorneys representing the government could face "more demanding" obligations to disclose misconduct by people within their client organizations than attorneys representing private entities, according to an ethics opinion issued Wednesday by the American Bar Association.

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Retired Judges Rip Bid To Ban Foreign-Born Federal Judges

By Courtney Bublé

A group of 58 retired federal judges, appointed by presidents of both parties, on Wednesday came out strongly against recent proposals from Republican lawmakers that would require federal judges to be natural-born U.S. citizens and relinquish any citizenship that is not of the United States.

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US Marshals Can't Make Immigration Arrests In DC Court

By Rae Ann Varona

A D.C. federal judge Wednesday refused to toss a lawsuit from a certified class of immigrants challenging immigration arrests by U.S. marshals in D.C. Superior Court, declaring that the marshals lack authority and necessary training for the arrests.

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Securities Class Action Deals On Target To Hit 6-Year High

By Katryna Perera

The value of class action settlements is on track to reach a six-year high of $4.4 billion, fueled in part by a handful of "mega settlements" and other high-dollar deals, a Cornerstone Research report released Wednesday said. 

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